Crossing The Picket Line
by Artemis Day
Summary: AU: The Once-ler finds environmental activists terribly annoying, but that hasn't stopped one of them from catching his attention. One-sided Once-ler/Audrey.


**A/N: So t****his is yet another AU, though one completely unconnected to The Corner Table (the jury is still out on whether or not that will get any sort of continuation). It's based on a fanart by thneedvillian on tumblr, which can be found here: .com/post/20961622236/so-i-woke-up-randomly-in-the-middle-of-the-night **

**I will say, without giving anything away, that this turned out a lot different than I thought it would. A lot of this oneshot is my interpretation of Greedler. Hopefully you'll see what I mean as you read this. XD**

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The Once-ler finds environmental activists terribly annoying, probably more than anything else in the world.

Well, okay, there's the Lorax, but the activists are a close second.

They first came out of the woodwork about a month ago, around the time it became clear that he was going for the entirety of the truffula forest. That no tree would be left standing on his watch, and one by one they'd all be turned into thneeds and sold to the consuming masses. That had gotten them all up in arms and in Once-ler's space.

There are several groups that come to protest all throughout the day, one right after the other. For this reason, Once-ler firmly believes they're working together, despite the different names they use.

Every morning when Once-ler wakes up, the People's Union For The Protection of Trees marches outside his fenced off living quarters, going on and on while he's dressing and eating breakfast. By noon, they've been replaced by the Association For Wildlife Welfare, who stick around with their poorly painted signs and feedback spewing megaphones, shouting about the homeless and hungry bar-ba-loots, for hours. It's gotten to the point that Once-ler needed to have all the windows replaced with soundproof glass just to keep their migraine inducing voices away.

This means he'll never know what actual demands the late afternoon Citizens Against Thneed Production have, aside from the obvious. The same goes for the evening's Men And Women Vs Corporate Dogmatism

And then there's the final group, the one that marches and shouts and raises signs and disturbs the peace beneath the smog covered moonlight. They stay until the sun rises, before retreating into their little corners, where Once-ler presumes they eat, sleep and whine at the only people who actually care about what they have to say: each other.

They call themselves the Environmental Protection Unit, a pretty boring name compared to all the others. Despite this, they are clearly the most dedicated. Unlike the other groups, they come in rain or shine, hot or cold weather, always with their signs and always the same ten or twelve people.

Out of all of them, however, only one truly holds his attention. If he's being honest with himself, he'd have to admit that she's probably the main reason he cares a lick about the EPU.

She's a young woman, probably not even out of her teens yet. She has long red hair and green eyes, and always wears the same yellow jumper with a blue shirt underneath. The sign she holds, simply reading 'SAVE THE TREES' has been replaced over a dozen times. He knows because the paint is always a different color.

The newest one is bright red. Trying to send a not-so-subtle message about the dying trees? Now that would be a laugh. Trees don't bleed and they don't feel. They don't care about being knocked down, only that Lorax and these busybodies do.

Once-ler suspects those first four groups aren't even in it for the trees. He thinks they just want attention, and boy do they get it. Every other day, they're on the news complaining about what a horrible excuse for a human being he is. It's gone from mildly hurtful to tiring in a disproportionately short time. Doesn't the local news anchor have anything better to report on? Some starving kids in third world countries or the breakout of a new incurable disease?

Anything?

No?

Well alright, more of this then.

"The man up there, the man they call the Once-ler, is nothing more than a corrupt, corporate pig."

"He sells his thneeds while sitting in a cushy chair in his big old office and ignoring all the pain and suffering his bottomless greed creates."

"He cares about nothing but himself and filling his own pockets. His charity donations are nothing more than a ruse to hide his true colors."

"He's a murderer, more monster than man! Do not buy these terrible products, made from the leaves of the once proud troofula trees!"

That last one made him burst out laughing, right before he changed the channel.

The thing about the EPU is that they've never given an interview like this. Sure, a few brave reporters will stick around until dawn to watch them picket; and sure, they may get a lot louder while on the air so everyone can hear them (those soundproof windows could not have been a bigger waste of money), but they've never issued a single statement to the press. They let their actions speak instead.

And that redheaded girl is the most passionate of them all. She's always the last one to stop and go home for the night, always the first to arrive when the moon is peeking out, always glares at him the hardest when he arrives home at 2 in the morning from whatever pointless event his mother booked him to attend.

On one of those nights, Once-ler walks from the limo to the front door slower than usual. It's close to 4, the party ran far longer than it should have, he drank one or two more glasses of wine than he was used to, and he just wants to get in his bed and sleep for the next week or two until this wears off.

Yet he is somehow still able to notice the EPU's eyes on him, _her_ eyes on him. She looks so angry. Then one of the others calls out to her.

"Come on, Audrey, don't get too close!"

Once-ler realizes then that she's only about ten feet away from him, the closest in proximity they've ever been. She listens to her friend and backs up immediately, but never takes her eyes off of him.

She has pretty eyes.

Her face is pretty too.

He likes looking at her.

It's like looking at a pretty flower, only with a face that's also pretty.

He's definitely more drunk than he realized.

When Once-ler wakes up the next morning with a headache that puts AWW to shame, the only thing he clearly remembers about the night before is her face, and the sound of her name.

Audrey.

Nice to finally have some way of identifying her.

She comes back the next night, and the next, and the next, and the next. Her EPU friends are always with her and she's always chanting in time with them. It's gotten to the point that he's memorized their words, from one or two nights that he accidentally on purpose left the window in his bedroom open for a few minutes, and allowed their voices to waft through.

SAVE THE TREES! STOP THE THNEEDS!

SAVE THE TREES! STOP THE THNEEDS!

SAVE THE TREES! STOP THE THNEEDS!

Okay, not the most creative slogan, and that rhyme was just painful, but at least they were enthusiastic. They actually seem to care about what they were saying and only desire the publicity to help their cause, rather than to get their faces plastered on TV.

It's kind of a shame, because regardless of whether or not Once-ler has been drinking, Audrey is indeed very pretty. He'd much prefer to see her on the screen than one of those idiots screaming pointless insults at him. He doesn't want to consider that she might do the same if given the opportunity. In his mind, she's far too nice and intelligent to stoop to such lows. It almost makes Once-ler not want to talk to her. He wants to keep his image of her pure and untainted.

And yet, the day does come. The day when he finds himself face to face with her, taking advantage of his far superior height to bare down on her and keep her from moving away.

It wasn't Once-ler's intention to get this close to her. He merely returned late from another stupid party, thankfully sober this time, and she was the first thing he saw upon stepping out of his transport. Audrey is standing slightly away from the group this time, her sign hanging in the loosening grip of her lax fingers. She is standing before a truffula tree, the last one in the area, and the only one that can be seen for at least a quarter of a mile. She runs her fingers against the bark, and bites down on her lip as if to prevent from crying out. Her friends pay her no mind, but flash him the usual glares as he passes. He forces himself to ignore them and focus only on Audrey.

On her eyes filling with tears.

On her slightly mussed up hair.

On her fists shaking with barely suppressed frustration and rage.

Once-ler is walking to her before he knows what he's doing, and when he regains himself, he doesn't stop. He can't stop now, because she's heard him and she's watching him approach her. Her green eyes are piercing, and make him feel an anxiety that hasn't plagued him in a long time; a fear of being judged.

He throws it aside with a scoff. What does he care what some kooky activist thinks of him? What does he care what _anyone_ thinks of them? He's the one with the million dollar idea that all the customers love who has all this money and success. He has his face on billboards and TV screens all across the world. He has everything he could possibly want!

Who is this girl anyway? Some random environmental nut who probably goes to community college and lives in a dumpy basement apartment and works a low end job for pennies. There's nothing special about her. She hasn't done anything useful with her life aside from delude herself into thinking she and her pals could make a difference. These people just don't understand the real principles of nature and business, and Audrey is one of them. She's kidding herself.

It's almost laughable how much higher up on the food chain he is than her.

He's everything.

She's nothing.

And because of this, her anger shouldn't be making him feel as small and insignificant as it does.

When he comes to stand over her, she doesn't react beyond leaning heavily against the tree. Once-ler places an arm on it, moisture from the afternoon rain seeping through his gloves and making him feel cold. He ignores it. Right now, he has to be calm and collected and he can't show her an inch of weakness.

He puts on a cocky smile.

"Hey there," he says. "You certainly come here often."

She scowls, pulling her sign back into an upright position and holding it close to her body, as if prepared to whack him across the face and run should he try anything.

"So do you," she answers coldly.

Once-ler gives her a flat look.

"My factory is here," he reminds her. "I also live here."

"Yes, and you've done a bang up job taking care of your property."

Now it's his turn to glare at her. Audrey doesn't let up her own and they spend the next minute or so in an intense staring contest. Once-ler has no idea if the rest of the EPU has noticed him yet, but nobody's come over so far. They've been left completely alone, and he isn't sure how much of a good thing that is.

"You know," he says, breaking the silence at last. "I really don't understand people like you."

He waves a hand at the group marching in an organized, circular fashion. Audrey doesn't bother following it.

"People like me," she repeats.

He doesn't like her tone.

"You come here every day, chanting and marching and crying about the trees and it never does any good. Do you honestly believe that if you does this long enough, I'll just up and give in? Stop making thneeds and leave the _poor defenseless trees_ alone? Because I've got news for you, Audrey, that's not happening."

Her eyes widen a tad when he says her name, but otherwise her expression never changes. Once-ler feels something akin to regret in the pit of his stomach that grows with every word he says. He doesn't like doing this to her, saying these things. He's always been afraid that if he ever got to know her personality, in any possible manner, he'd be disappointed in what he saw.

Instead, he's finding that he likes Audrey more than ever. She has this tenacity about her, in the way she refuses to back down or submit to his reasoning. He's been standing over her all this time; and he's taller than her, older than her, stronger than her, and yet she doesn't show even a hint of fear. She isn't going to be cowed so easily. She's stubborn, kind of like him.

He's not going to give up easily either.

"Why can't you just accept that no matter how much you complain about it, this is never going to stop?" he's close to shouting at this point. Why doesn't she say anything? "Look around you, Audrey! You're not going to win this. Everybody loves my thneeds, everybody buys my thneeds, _everybody needs a thneed!"_

He's leaning in very close now, almost inches away from her face. She swallows and her resolute expression falters a bit, but Audrey still finds it in her to stare him down, just like he knew she would.

What she says next is the final nail in the coffin.

"I don't."

And then she turns and walks away, back to her party, back to marching. She doesn't ever look back.

Once-ler can't stop watching her, though. As his façade collapses around him, he stares after her flowing red hair, knowing he can't call her back, and feels sick to his stomach.

She hates him.

Of course she hates him, they all hate the big bad old Once-ler.

The EPU hates Once-ler.

The AFF hates Once-ler.

All the other activist groups hate Once-ler.

The animals hate Once-ler.

The Lorax hates Once-ler.

Once-ler hates Once-ler.

He knows, as he's dragging his feet back into the cold factory he mapped out and built long ago, that he's never going to speak to her again. Audrey clearly wants nothing to do with him, and he doesn't blame her. It still hurts, because in spite of her foolish naivety and contempt for him, he really, _really_ likes her now.

When he goes to sleep that night, he dreams of the truffula forest in it's former glory. He's living in his cottage again, making pancakes for the animals and playing cards with the Lorax. The Hummingfish perform for him regularly, always the same songs, but he never gets tired of them. Pip hangs around, eating all the marshmallows he can find and never sharing them. Then there's Audrey, she's in the dream too.

When Once-ler goes outside to just sit in the grass and stare at the cloudless sky, she walks out of their little home only a few seconds later. Taking her place beside him, he wraps one arm around her waist to pull her closer. She leans her head against his arm and snuggles into him, and Once-ler smiles in contentment at the beautiful life he has with this beautiful woman by his side.

Then he wakes up in his giant, stately bedroom, and the air is much chillier than he remembers. His eyes are full of unshed tears that he has trouble keeping at bay. Once-ler thinks he finally understands why Audrey fascinates him to much, now more than ever. If he'd had someone like her in his life before all this, before his thneeds had made it big… would things have been different?

Could she have truly made a difference once upon a time?

He'll never knew for sure, because at that moment, there comes a harsh knocking at the door, followed by his mother's voice ordering him to get dressed and come for breakfast. Once-ler dries his eyes and removes his pajama shirt, pulling a fresh white one out of his closet and pushing all thoughts of red hair and green eyes out of his mind.

When Once-ler gets downstairs and sits down with his family, just like every morning before this and hopefully every morning to come, he has reminded himself of how much people love his thneeds, how much they love _him._

With millions of people adoring him, why should he care about a single person he barely knows?

What makes Audrey think she understands anything anyway? She's just a nobody after all.

This is what he keeps telling himself as he goes about his daily business, and the more he thinks it, the more he believes it, even when he doesn't really. He convinces himself that her words are unimportant and that there's not a shred of truth to them. The power hungry man he's become takes back over, telling him that _he is right_ and_she is wrong,_ and that's all there is to it.

A few years down the line, when all the trees are gone, and his business is washed up, and his family has abandoned him, and he's locked himself away from the world with only a single word he doesn't understand to keep him going, she'll be just one more number on the long list of his regrets.

And he'll still dream of her.


End file.
